UNCDF has a small administrative staff in New York. Reinhart Helmke (Germany) was appointed to the position of Executive Secretary in January. UNCDF is active in agriculture and irrigation, infrastructure development, low-cost housing, water and sanitation, small-scale credit and industry development, health and education. In 1991, project approvals were $80 million, an increase of approximately $2 million over 1990.

UNCDF programs focused primarily on poverty reduction and provided small amounts of capital assistance to small-scale projects. In the agriculture sector, for example, UNCDF gave special attention to development of small irrigation schemes as an alternative to larger past ventures and as a means to secure food self-sufficiency with full involvement of farmers.

The Fund has also succeeded in improving the position of women through its projects. The percentage of women involved in the new projects increased from 20 percent in 1989 to more than 36 percent in 1991, and women also became more involved in project leadership.

In 1991 contributions to UNCDF reached $43 million, up from $39.7 million in 1990. Sweden was the largest contributor to UNCDF in 1991 at $9.9 million; the 1991 U.S. contribution was $2.0 million.

UN Volunteers

The UN Volunteers (UNV) program was established by the General Assembly in 1970, and began operations in January 1971. It is financed from UNDP's core budget and from extrabudgetary contributions. The program provides volunteers with essential skills, recruited on a worldwide basis, to assist developing countries in development activities. UNV is the only multilateral volunteer-sending agency and provides, by and large, the only opportunity for volunteers from developing countries to serve abroad.

The General Assembly designated the Administrator of UNDP as the Administrator of UNV. Most volunteers are assigned to UNDP field offices and work on projects funded by UNDP or the specialized UN agencies. The UNDP Governing Council is responsible for governance of UNV and considers the activities of the program every 2 years. The next in-depth review of program activities will take place at the May 1992 Governing Council regular session.

A total of 2,061 volunteers served in over 100 countries in 1991, with nearly 80 percent working in low-income countries of

Africa, Latin and Central America, the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific. Africa alone has accounted for over 50 percent of the assignments during the last decade, with Asia and the Pacific making up another third. In 1991, 85 percent of all volunteers were from developing countries. U.S. participation increased over 50 percent in 1991, from 40 to 64 volunteers.

The broad sectoral focus of UNV assignments has remained the same throughout UNV's history. In 1991 volunteers served primarily in health, agriculture, education and community development, and provided doctors, extension agents, teachers and professors, and community outreach workers.

UNV has an increasingly important role in assisting national programs of post-crisis rehabilitation and reconstruction (for example, in Afghanistan, Angola and Mozambique) and supporting capacity-building in the context of long-standing relief programs (as in Ethiopia). A recent development has also been UNV's growing involvement in immediate, short-term responses to emergency situations. UNV has provided the Office of the UN Disaster Relief Coordinator (UNDRO), Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), World Food Program (WFP), UNICEF and the International Office of Migration (IOM) with specialists in transport and logistics, health, water supply and basic infrastructure. The first country where such UNV activity took place was Liberia, where a team of specialists helped UNDRO manage its field operation with partner agencies, followed by programs led by UNHCR, UNICEF and WFP in Iraq and the Gulf.

The Peace Corps works closely with UNV to recruit Americans for UNV assignments. In 1991 the Peace Corps recruited 30 volunteers and funded external support costs for 64 volunteers. In addition to support from the U.S. contribution to UNDP's core program in 1991, the United States contributed $310,700 to UNV from the Peace Corps budget, including $100,000 to UNV's Special Voluntary Fund. Contributions to UNV's Special Voluntary Fund totaled $820,000 in 1991.

UN Fellowship Program

The UN General Assembly established the UN Fellowship Program in 1948. Thirty specialized agencies administer fellowships financed out of project funds in all fields related to economic and social development. The Program gives governmentemployed nationals from developing countries the opportunity to broaden professional knowledge in areas of primary importance to the development of their countries. UN Fellows develop

skills in many fields, including ocean economics, water resources management, mining, aviation and natural resources management. The United States currently provides training in the fields of agriculture, marine fisheries, international aviation and communications.

In 1991 the Department of State provided $245,000 in voluntary contributions to participating federal agencies to offset part of the administrative costs of training Fellows in the United States. A total of 436 Fellows received training in the United States, facilitated by U.S. Information Agency's Office of International Visitors, and 296 government and industry officials from 60 countries were assisted by ICAO to receive training in the United States under the supervision and direction of the Federal Aviation Administration. The ITU assisted 25 Fellows representing 5 countries to undergo training sponsored by the Federal Communications Commission. Some 115 trainees from 43 countries were assisted by the FAO to participate in training programs conducted in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the National Marine Fisheries Service.

UN Children's Fund

The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) was founded in 1946 to help meet the emergency needs of children in the aftermath of World War II. Today it provides long-term humanitarian assistance to needy children and mothers in developing countries around the world. It also promotes and supports health, educational and development activities directed toward child survival and development worldwide, as well as emergency assistance. Because of its apolitical character, UNICEF frequently finds acceptance in areas experiencing political turmoil.

UNICEF has headquarters in New York. U.S. citizens have held the executive directorship since UNICEF's inception. The current Executive Director is James Grant, who was reappointed for a third 5-year term in 1989. The Executive Director receives policy guidance and direction from the UNICEF Executive Board, composed of 41 member states elected for 3-year terms. The United States has always been an elected member of this Board, which meets annually for a 2-week session. Special sessions or mail polls may be used to resolve issues that cannot wait until the next scheduled session of the Board.

UNICEF allocates resources among countries on the basis of severity of need, using criteria that include infant mortality rates (IMR), under-5 child morbidity and mortality statistics, infant and child population totals, and per capita GNP. Since 1983 the

IMR has been used as the most important criterion to guide both the level and the content of UNICEF program cooperation. UNICEF programs generally emphasize development of community-level services to promote the health and well-being of children, including water supply, primary health care, nutrition, education and other child development activities, and improvements in the situation of mothers. UNICEF also helps to procure, package and deliver medical and other health or education supplies through its centralized supply procurement, packaging and warehousing system known as UNIPAC (i.e., UN Procurement and Assembly Center), located in Copenhagen.

In 1991 UNICEF spent $591 million on projects in 110 countries. This amount included $202 million (34 percent) for child health activities, $111 million (19 percent) for emergency relief, $73 million (12 percent) on water supply and sanitation, $48 million (8 percent) on educational activities, $39 million (7 percent) on community- or family-based services for children, $31 million (5 percent) for child nutrition and $87 million (15 percent) for general activities-mainly planning and program preparation, communications and other support.

In addition to programs and projects funded from UNICEF's general resources budget, each year UNICEF develops, in cooperation with countries, many other worthwhile projects for support through special-purpose contributions, or supplementary funds. These so-called "noted" projects, approved by the Executive Board, are listed in an annual catalog made available to potential donors, including development agencies, national committees and others. In addition, UNICEF appeals for emergency funds to assist children and mothers affected by either natural or man-made disasters.

Contributions to UNICEF are voluntary. In 1991 UNICEF received $397 million in voluntary contributions to its general resources from 117 governments. The United States contributed $75 million to UNICEF's core activities and $19 million to supplementary funds, with approximately $4.9 million allocated to child survival/EPI (Expanded Program on Immunization) programs in African countries and Haiti and $14.1 million for emergencies and relief/rehabilitation assistance in China, Cote d'Ivoire, Ethiopia, Guinea, Iraq, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Sierra Leone, Somalia and the Sudan.

In addition to contributions from governments, UNICEF also receives substantial income from private and other nongovernmental sources. Total income from UNICEF's greeting card and related operations amounted to $69.6 million, while contribu

tions from other nongovernmental sources amounted to $132.9 million in 1991. UNICEF success in raising funds from these sources is largely due to the fund-raising activities of 34 national committees and UNICEF headquarters-related offices abroad. The U.S. Committee for UNICEF, a nonprofit organization that has 3 million volunteers throughout all 50 states, is the largest and among the most active of these national committees.

UNICEF Executive Board

The UNICEF Executive Board held its regular session in New York April 22-May 3. The session adopted 39 decisions, covering areas such as UNICEF's role in follow-up to the September 1990 World Summit for Children, its commitment to developing countries, especially those of Africa, emergency operations and support for breast-feeding.

The year 1991 was a "budget year" for the Board, which approved revised budget estimates for 1990-1991 and budget estimates for 1992-1993. The Board also approved decisions requesting a long-term strategy for UNICEF headquarters office space, a review of the administrative/management structure, and an in-depth study of the structure and format of budget documents. These decisions reflected concerns expressed by the United States and others on the need to make the budget more transparent, including clear distinctions between expenditures in program and administrative areas.

The U.S. Delegation proposed and won support for two key initiatives: UNICEF's role in combatting AIDS and its support of the Children's Vaccine Initiative (CVI).

The AIDS decision called on UNICEF's Executive Director to develop an overall strategy to guide UNICEF activities in combatting the spread of AIDS by using an accelerated program within the framework of the WHO Global Program on AIDS. UNICEF was asked to use its highly effective delivery systems to promote advocacy in prevention of AIDS, procurement of supplies and distribution support, care of AIDS orphans and to integrate AIDS activities into existing/planned child survival and development programs.

The CVI decision asked UNICEF to present a comprehensive report in 1992 delineating the objectives of CVI and the respective roles of WHO, UNDP, UNICEF and others. UNICEF was asked to contribute specifically to activities such as improvements in service delivery, monitoring methodologies, epidemiological capacity and cold-chain equipment.